Vehicle mounted hoists or cranes have become increasingly popular in recent years. Typically the hoist or crane is mounted on the bed of a vehicle such as a pickup truck, and are used for loading and unloading the truck. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,922 to Hawkins discloses a portable crane including an apparatus for supporting a hoist mounted on the frame of a pickup truck. The apparatus includes a upright structure carrying an outwardly extending boom and an auxiliary or supplemental support leg provided outside of the vehicle to support this hoist mechanism and prevent excessive unbalanced loading on the wheel structure of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,358 to Harlan also discloses a hoist for lifting loads into a vehicle such as a truck. The portable hoist includes a fixed mounting that is attached to a support, i.e., the sidewall of a truck. An upright support structure is connected to the mounting by a vertical hinge assembly so that the support structure can swing about a vertical axis. A boom is pivotally secured to the support structure so that the free end of the boom can be raised or lowered.
Although these and other structures can provide good lifting capability using a vehicle such as a truck, typically, these devices are cumbersome to use, requiring permanent mountings, complex assembly and limited range of maneuverability. Accordingly there exists a need for a device that is easily assembled and disassembled and mounted to a conventional vehicle such as a pickup truck, and still provide a sufficient range of movement and load capacity.